


Over Spilled Milk

by Metalera_Lair



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Baby Alphonse Elric, Beware of Milk, Big Brothers, Brotherhood, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist Manga, Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Edward Elric vs Milk, Elric Brothers, F/M, Family, Family Bonding, Family Dynamics, Family Fluff, Father Figures, Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Fluff, Fullmetal Alchemist: Manga, Hohen-Dad, Home, Little Brothers, Mother-Son Relationship, Motherhood, Papa Hohen to the Rescue, Papa Hohenheim, Pipsqueak Who, Pre-Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Resembool, Toddler Edward Elric, papa hoho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27549037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metalera_Lair/pseuds/Metalera_Lair
Summary: When little Edward is facing trouble from his sworn enemy (aka milk), he unexpectedly receives a helpful hand.
Relationships: Trisha Elric/Van Hohenheim
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Over Spilled Milk

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

The spacious white-brick house was flooded with warm rays of the autumn sun; the summer had not quite abandoned its reign even halfway through the fall. The last of golden and crimson leaves floated through the air in a solemn waltz before joining their fallen comrades at the roots of an old oak next to the building.

The house assumed a cozy silence following a rather lively breakfast earlier. Trisha and the boys had risen early and had eaten by themselves; young woman not wishing to wake her beloved, who had been up all night working on his research. Now she was upstairs giving Alphonse a bath, while Edward was still lingering in the kitchen.

Van Hohenheim opened his eyes to the joyful giggles of his youngest son travelling from across the hall, as baby boy splashed in the warm water that Trisha tended him in. The corner of his lips turning up from the comforting sounds, alchemist got ready and proceeded to the bathroom to assist his wife.

"Oh, honey, you're up already," Trisha greeted him with a fond smile. "I hope we didn't wake you up?"

"No, nothing like that, Trisha," Van scratched the back of his head and shoot her a smile in return, his golden eyes assessing the bathtub situation with little Alphonse beaming up at him and welcoming him with a happy 'da-da'. "Is there… is there anything I can do to help?" Alchemist offered with a tad of hesitation in his tone.

"I've got it covered here, dear. Why don't you help yourself to some breakfast? We left you some eggs and pancakes," Trisha proposed instead, giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

His grumbling stomach replied before he had a chance to himself, causing a chuckle from the young woman and an awkward lopsided grin on Hohenheim's face. He gave a clumsy pat on the head to the toddler and excused himself, heading downstairs.

Just as he was rounding the corner leading towards the kitchen, he heard a muffled rumble followed with a sudden shattering noise and a terrified cry of his eldest. Upon a quick entry to the room, Van observed a tragedy of the broken glass with a spilled out puddle of milk staining the floor. Petrified Edward stood in the middle of the crime scene, his golden eyes – already so much like the ones of Hohenheim – growing even wider in horror, when noticing his father's arrival.

"Edward? What happened?" Alchemist inquired in surprise.

Boy turned away, knitting his eyebrows and fidgeting with his T-shirt. Hearing his name being called out again, he flinched and mumbled something incomprehensive in reply.

"Ed, did you break the glass?" Van sighed seeing his son's distress.

"It slipped outta my hand," Ed explained quietly. He suddenly looked up, locking his panicking gaze with his father's. "Momma will be upset! I don't want momma to be upset."

The sight of his troubled son staring at him with a quivering lower lip and faintly wet eyes made man's heart clench. "Well, maybe she doesn't have to be upset," he smiled softly before red sparks ran across the floor and in a moment all the shards and fluids reconstructed back into a full glass of milk. Hohenheim walked over and crouched, picking the glass up and offering it to the boy. Ed's awe quickly shifted to fear, as he accepted the glass only to glare at it anxiously.

"What's the matter?" Van cocked an eyebrow.

"I hate milk," Ed muttered with his piercing eyes still locked on the loathed object in his hands.

"I see," Hohenheim started. He had been devoting quite a lot of his time to his research, maybe a bit too much of his time it seemed now. "But your mother wanted you to drink this, didn't she?"

Boy frowned.

"She said I need to finish or I can't play outside," he complained miserably. "But I really wanna play outside!"

Hohenheim hummed in understanding. A hand on his chin, he thought over his son's dilemma. Now that he took time to process it, he noted that the incident took place suspiciously close to the sink. He assumed the boy had forgotten to anticipate a chair in order to reach the drain, thus causing the breakage. Alchemist chose to ignore this discovery.

Edward plopped himself onto the floor placing the glass between his sprawled legs. In return, Van sat with his legs crossed just across the almost-three year-old.

"Momma says I gotta drink milk to grow big and strong and I wanna, but I hate it," Ed groaned. "And I wanna go outside."

"Yes, that's quite a pickle you got there," Hohenheim mused.

Edward tilted his head in confusion. "But it's milk, not pickle…"

Hohenheim blinked, and then chuckled softly.

"It's just an expression, Edward," he explained. "But you still should drink your milk, you know."

Ed huffed and pulled his knees close to his chest, hugging them, as if to protect himself from the evil that was milk. "Everyone calls me little and says I gotta drink more milk. But I'm big, I'm gonna be three soon!"

"That's right," alchemist realized. "You know, I don't remember my parents, but from what I heard shortness doesn't run in our family; although, it might take a while to grow tall. We're rather late bloomers," he explained pensively. "But of course the more milk we drank, the sooner we grew. Don't you wish to grow tall, Edward?"

The boy hummed something positive in reply.

"Then why don't you drink this up for me?" Hohenheim picked up the glass and stretched it out to his son once again; the boy reluctantly accepted it resuming his staring contest with the despised item. Van sighed and cast a look up to the window. "The weather is sure nice today," he commented, side-glancing at the boy, whose face was now summoning multiple sweat-drops from the pressure. This was getting nowhere.

And then it hit him.

"Edward, you know how I fixed this glass with alchemy earlier?"

"Huh?" Boy furrowed his brows in confusion. "Do you mean your sparkly magic?"

"Well, yes, that," Hohenheim chuckled. "It's called 'alchemy', I'm certain I mentioned it before. Anyway, thanks to that this milk is… upgraded. Once you finish the whole thing, you will grow by an inch for sure, and it will make you much stronger."

Edward gave his drink a doubtful glance. "The milk is… magical because of… ahl-keh-mee? It will make me bigger?" A hope illuminated from his features.

"Why don't you give it a try and see? It will not taste as bad anymore, I did some adjustments," boy's father assured him.

Slowly, Edward brought the glass a little closer to his face.

"But," Hohenheim continued, "you need to drink it all at once till the last drop. Otherwise, it will never work."

His son shuddered, but brought the glass up to his parted lips still staring it down dubiously. He paused, bracing himself for the torture.

"Edward, why don't you look at me instead?" his father called softly, drawing the attention to him. "I promise it tastes better than ever. Come on now."

"And I'm gonna be tall… like you?" boy asked hopefully. Hohenheim looked aghast for a short moment before nodding. He still prayed that looks and brains were the only things his sons inherited from him.

"Okay," Edward frowned in determination, squeezed his eyes shut and gulped down his drink at a legendary speed fueled through panic and fear. He finished and rubbed off the stranded trails of milk from his chin with the back of his hand. Boy scrambled to his feet, studying his legs and arms eagerly. "Daddy, am I tall now?"

"Oh yes," Hohenheim gave him an innocent, reassuring grin.

"Yay, magic worked!" Ed jumped with joy, landing into his father's chest. Alchemist tensed in shock, but after a moment embraced the boy in a hesitant, but gentle hug.

"What are you two up to?" Trisha asked from the doorway curiously, holding cleaned up and dressed Alphonse against her hip.

"Momma, momma, I'm tall now!" Edward untangled himself from his father's arms and ran to his mother, leaping excitedly. "Dad did magic to milk!"

"Oh?" Trisha raised her eyebrows, looking over at flushing Hohenheim. "Did he now? How thoughtful," she smiled warmly at her men and took a glass from Ed, studying the object in surprise. "Finished till last drop? Wow, Ed, well done! Why don't you take Al to play outside now?"

"Yeah! Let's go play, Al!" Edward cheered, grabbing his baby brother's hand to support his steps and rushing out of the house.

"Big brudda!" Al cooed happily, following behind. "Play, play, play!"

Trisha giggled, watching her little sons take leave before turning to face Van, as he approached her.

"Full glass of milk, huh?" She pondered in admiration.

"Yeah," Van Hohenheim hummed, putting one of his hands into the pocket and wrapping his other hand tenderly around young woman's slender waist. "It seems alchemy works magic."

**Author's Note:**

> Hohenheim stans, where are you at?
> 
> While he had best intentions at heart, Hohenheim did carry a huge sense of self-inflicted guilt behind his back, stopping him from moving forward. And as much as he tried to distance himself from his children to protect them, I don't think he was a bad father on those rare occasions he shared with them. C'mon, he spend about good three-four years with the boys. I'm sure there must have been some effort made from his side, especially after this photoshooting session and Trisha talk (yes). Manga did have a couple of bonus panels about Hohen-dad, too.
> 
> That being said, Elric brothers did have a father. And maybe that was another reason about Hohenheim's disappearance that pissed Edward off so much.
> 
> Anywhoozle. I might be writing more of these in the future, too.
> 
> Thanks a lot for reading, hope you enjoyed! :3


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